Thursday, March 17, 2011

About 50 Nepalese hit by tsunami have taken shelter at ISKCON temple in Tokyo; Gujarati and Rajasthani families provide food, blankets to keep them warm

Evacuees carrying food from a soup kitchen back to their shelter in Minamisanriku in northern Japan on Wednesday

Indians in Tokyo continue holding out hope for the victims of quake and tsunami and spreading the message of brotherhood. ISKCON temple, has given shelter to 40 Nepalese who had to leave Sendai airport area after the nature’s fury hit the region.

Shrikant Shah, a committee members of the temple who is active in helping the victims in all possible ways, told Mirror on telephone from Tokyo, “We were approached by the Nepali embassy. It requested us to give shelter to 200 Nepalese but it was not possible for us to arrange for so many people. We will be providing shelter to 40 to 50 of them.”

As the numbers are high and the temple is still under construction, providing all the basic amenities was a little difficult. “But we are trying our best,” said Shah. Manoj Singh, a Jaipur native, has also pitched in to help the victims. He has given shelter to 10 people in one of his halls.

“We did not have enough blankets to keep them warm so we borrowed them from some Gujarati families who readily gave them.” Not only this, the Gujarati families also got together at the Govinda restaurant of ISKCON to prepare food for the refugees. Biryani and khakhras were made for them as there was shortage of food.

“We are arranging for the food on Thursday from another restaurant,” Shah said. For their act of kindness, the Nepali ambassador is expected to visit and thank the temple on Thursday